The Labor senator was filmed, against his will, being bullied and racially vilified by a coven of burly, high-vis vest-wearing halfwits at a university bar in Melbourne.They called Dastyari, an Iranian-born non-practising Muslim, a "terrorist" and a "monkey".When Dastyari called them racist, they asked him: "What race is Islam?"

The scene was instantly familiar to anyone who has ever been bullied - the thugs' slow circling of their prey, the escalating taunts, the malicious dance on the edge of violence. They enjoyed every minute.And on Dastyari's face, the uneasy calculations of the victim: Can I laugh this off? Can I ignore them? Will anyone step in to help?The bar staff didn't, but Dastyari's fellow Labor MP Tim Watts was nearby, ducking in and out of the shakily-filmed video.Watts stuck close to his friend and delivered what might just be the line of the year when he asked one of the men: "What race is dickhead?"

Can't load image    The wife of a Northern Ireland player who controversially had a penalty awarded against him in last night's World Cup playoff has been criticised for a 'racist and offensive' tweet directed at the referee.

Michael O'Neill's side lost the first leg of their playoff tie against Switzerland 1-0 after Corry Evans was harshly adjudged to have handled the ball in the box, with the visitors converting the decisive spot kick.

Evans, the brother of West Brom defender Jonny Evans, was booked following the incident, which rules him out of Monday's return leg in Switzerland but it was the post-match comments from his wife that has many people talking today.

Evans' wife Lisa took to Twitter after the game and sent a very offensive tweet directed at match official Ovidiu Hategan, whose performance was slammed by O'Neill after the game.

"Romanian gypsy c***!!!," she began.

"And to actually think Northern Ireland has probably homed one of his smelly relatives!! Ungrateful t***!! Anyway onwards and upwards."

A spokesperson for the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland has condemned the tweet.

"Racist and offensive language is not appropriate in any circumstance," they told the BBC.

"When commenting on the behaviour of any individual, making reference to that person's ethnic or national origin is irrelevant."

An apology from Corry Evans on behalf of his wife has since been released through the IFA.

"On behalf of my wife, I would like to apologise unreservedly for the content and language contained in the Tweet that she issued last night.

"The comments were published in the heat of the moment and are not representative of her views."

The Labor senator was filmed, against his will, being bullied and racially vilified by a coven of burly, high-vis vest-wearing halfwits at a university bar in Melbourne.They called Dastyari, an Iranian-born non-practising Muslim, a "terrorist" and a "monkey".When Dastyari called them racist, they asked him: "What race is Islam?"

The scene was instantly familiar to anyone who has ever been bullied - the thugs' slow circling of their prey, the escalating taunts, the malicious dance on the edge of violence. They enjoyed every minute.And on Dastyari's face, the uneasy calculations of the victim: Can I laugh this off? Can I ignore them? Will anyone step in to help?The bar staff didn't, but Dastyari's fellow Labor MP Tim Watts was nearby, ducking in and out of the shakily-filmed video.Watts stuck close to his friend and delivered what might just be the line of the year when he asked one of the men: "What race is dickhead?"

The Labor senator was filmed, against his will, being bullied and racially vilified by a coven of burly, high-vis vest-wearing halfwits at a university bar in Melbourne.They called Dastyari, an Iranian-born non-practising Muslim, a "terrorist" and a "monkey".When Dastyari called them racist, they asked him: "What race is Islam?"

The scene was instantly familiar to anyone who has ever been bullied - the thugs' slow circling of their prey, the escalating taunts, the malicious dance on the edge of violence. They enjoyed every minute.And on Dastyari's face, the uneasy calculations of the victim: Can I laugh this off? Can I ignore them? Will anyone step in to help?The bar staff didn't, but Dastyari's fellow Labor MP Tim Watts was nearby, ducking in and out of the shakily-filmed video.Watts stuck close to his friend and delivered what might just be the line of the year when he asked one of the men: "What race is dickhead?"

Fair enough, but at what point does it lose it's relevance if you live in a non-Islamic society?

At least Jewish is a quasi-ethnicity.

So is Muslim

Nonsense. It is a religion, purely.

We have many ethnicites practicing Islam, in South Africa. They differ greatly at times.

It's the same all over the world mate, claiming any of the semetic religions are race based is simplistic at best, deeply misleading at worst. A particularly problematic proposition when looking at Palestinians and Israelis, the studies done by Karl Skorecki and Harry Ostrer makes interesting reading.